Taylor Swift Las Vegas Jackpot

Business savvy bowl of expired plain yogurt Taylor Swift would capitalize on a national tragedy if she could. And, she basically has. While some people waited in line for hours to donate blood to victims of Monday’s horrific Las Vegas shooting – the deadliest shooting in modern American history – the bazillionaire pop star was strategizing ways to get “Taylor Swift” to pop up in Google next to “Las Vegas Massacre.” She succeeded by sending plants and flowers to the Los Angeles station of an out-of-town police officer wounded during the shooting. A woman at the station posted understandable excitement over the A-list interaction to Instagram, and today Swift beats out all fifty-eight victims for attention. Nice try, victims. 

Swift is often parodied for her shameless gift packages to suicidal Tumblr tweens. They get an iPad and a note handwritten in glitter pen: “I understand that you’re a freak. I’m a freak too. Buy my album. You’re my pleb bitch. Xoxo Taylor Swift Inc.” The freaks then share their gems on social media, and US Weekly has its next headline. It’s one failproof cog in the unstoppable PR machine that is Taylor Swift, and apparently, it holds up well during times of national duress.

If the Las Vegas shooting didn’t overlap Swift’s current tightly-curated rebranding, I think she’d probably get more involved. But her Instagram grid doesn’t leave room for improvisation. It was the least you could do Taylor. Literally. I’d like to think Taylor Swift won’t be remembered as one of the top ten figures of this week’s events. Trumping first responders and the victims themselves. But I can’t guarantee it. 

 ^{Photo Credit: Vogue, YouTube}